Roméo Dallaire says Omar Khadr is a child soldier

There has been some controversy in Canada about whether the Guantanamo detainee Omar Khadr was a child soldier. Liberal Senator Roméo Dallaire says he was:

The [Canadian] federal government is desperately trying to redefine the term "child soldier." While speaking in the House of Commons, Deepak Obhrai, the parliamentary secretary to the minister of foreign affairs, revealed a double standard. He spoke sympathetically of meeting child soldiers in Burundi and stated that in that case, dire poverty and economic pressures cause children to be recruited as soldiers. Conversely, when speaking of Omar Khadr, who was also a minor forced into combat by factors beyond his control, Obhrai declared that "(we) should be very careful when we start saying that the terrorists at Guantanamo should be given rights."

You would never know based on its handling of the Khadr case, but in February, 2007, our government actually joined more than 50 other states in agreeing to the Paris Principles and Commitments. These include, among other things, a definition of the term "child soldier" and guidelines for integrating former child combatants back into society. This key international pledge has been markedly absent from the government's strategy for dealing with a Canadian child soldier.

The prime minister, along with some other Canadians, is clearly uncomfortable defending Omar Khadr's rights, but this does not mean our government should stick its head in the sand. When Canada signs a treaty, it should mean something. We should not look for loopholes or try to change the rules of the game as soon as our resolve is put to the test. We should not seek to evade our obligations, legal, moral, or otherwise. We should keep our word, and respect both the spirit and the letter of the law.

Liberal Senator Roméo Dallaire travelled to Washington in January to press for a halt of Omar Khadr's Guantanamo prosecution.